Also shown in the corners of the brass over William's tomb are
four instances of the Fytche arms. These are formally described
as "Vert, a chevron between three leopard's faces erased or."
This formulaic blazon [Fr. blason] or description is in archaic quasi-French, but it means that
the tincture or basic color is green and that the chevron and
three erased (torn off) leopards' heads are gold. Although these
animals may look more like lions, lions are almost always shown
in profile, whereas these full-face images represent the standard
depiction of leopards. (vide Editor's note at foot of page)

The lion's companion is the leopard. What might be the true form
of this beast was a dark thing to the old armorist, yet knowing
from the report of grave travellers that the leopard was begotten
in spouse-breach between the lion and the pard, it was felt that
his shape would favour his sire's . . . Then a happy device came
to the armorist. He would paint the leopard like the lion at all
points. But as the lion looks forward the leopard should look
sidelong, showing his whole face . . . [W]riters on armory protested
that a lion did not become a leopard by turning his face sidelong,
but none who fought in the field under lion and leopard banners
heeded this pedantry . . .[10]

The arms shown in Figure 6 are not rubbings; they are illustrations
which must have been added later. In particular, there is no large
shield at the top center of the brass. And although the smaller
shields do illustrate the approximate positions of the arms on
the brass, they are not accurate representations. Figure 7 is
a rubbing made from the actual Fytche arms on the brass, showing
the crescent moon which denoted William's cadency or position
as second son. William probably adopted his arms from the virtually
identical (and much older) Wentworth arms,[11] shown in Figure 8. As Sir Anthony Wagner stated, "There are cases
of one man granting away his arms to another . . . Sometimes such
cessions accompany grants of land . . . [8]

Wentworth
from the book

As we have seen, William bought Lindsell Hall in 1556 and Camoys
Hall in 1557 from Thomas, Lord Wentworth. He may have added the
crescent to imply that he had inherited the arms from his father. To the best of
the author's knowledge, however, William was the first Fytche
to use these arms. In 1699, when a Sir Comport Fytche of Kent
was petitioning for a grant of the Fytche arms (to be discussed
further, below), it would have been to his advantage to show that
William's father, Thomas, had already used the arms. Robert Dale,
Richmond Herald at the College of Arms, evidently visited Lindsell
and reported ". . . the arms torn away,"[12] though the author, who has examined the stone on several occasions,
has seen no evidence of anchor holes or other marks in the stone,
which might indicate that a piece of the brass had been removed.
In 1898, an Essex Review article reported of the brass that, "It
is well engraved for the period, in excellent condition, still
perfect in all its parts and thoroughly characteristic of its
kind."[28]

The earliest recorded instance of the Fytche arms appears to be
in Pedegrees Hereldry Armes painted and Inblason, a large, vellum bound notebook, begun in 1520 by Sir Thomas
Wriothesley, Garter King of Arms, the principal officer of the
College of Arms, from 1505-34.[31] Also known as the Letter H Roll, this collection of arms and
pedigrees, now at the Society of Antiquaries in London, includes
later 16th century additions by others. Page 256, on which the
Fytche entry appears, is not among those identified by the Society
as having been made by Wriothesley himself, and is probably one
of the later additions. The arms are in black ink with initial
letters indicating the colors for the tincture, the chevron, and
the leopard's heads. The one peculiarity of the entry is the legend
accompanying the drawing, which reads "ffytch De north." Since
Little Canfield could hardly be considered in the North, Thomas
Woodcock, the present Norroy and Ulster King of Arms, thinks it
may simply have been "an abbreviation or misreading of some place-name
in Essex."[32] But the legend may well have given rise, as much as a hundred
years later, to the mythical 13th century "John Fytche of Fytche
Castle in the North," who appears on the vellum pedigree of Figure
18.

Children (these three, one other daughter, and one other son[2]) by first wife, Elizabeth:

11 i William, bur. All Saints, Little Canfield, 5 Nov. 1561.[21]
12 ii Eleanor, mentioned as deceased in her father's will 1577;[1] m. Rooke Greene, Esq.[1] d. Little Sampford, Essex, 9 Apr. 1602,[26] eldest son and heir of Sir Edward Grene and Margery Allington.[26] Rooke (or Rocus) succeeded to his father's estate at Little or
New Sampford. He was "a valiant confessor of the faith, suffering
imprisonment and fines for 20 years," because he was a recusant,
a Roman Catholic who failed to attend services of the Church of
England. ("Though all our Recusants be the King of Englands subjects,
yet too many of them be the King of Spaines servants."[27]) Following 1581, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, he appeared
frequently in presentments in Essex Quarter Session Rolls, one
entry reading "Rocus Greene remains in the gaol in Colchester."[26]
13 iii Mary, mentioned as deceased in her father's will 1577;[1] m. Toppesfield, Essex 1556,[9] Francis Mannock, Esq.[1] of Stoke Nayland, Suffolk,[6] d. 3 Nov. 1590,[9] son of William and Audry (Allington) Mannock.[9]

Children (these three and one other son) by second wife, Anne:

+ 14 iv Thomas, b. abt. 1560.[24]
15 v William, b. abt. 1562; mentioned in his father's will, 1577;[1] d.s.p. unm. Paris, 21 Nov. 1611 aged 49.[22] William took the vows of a Franciscan novice at Douai in 1586,
as Brother Benedict of Canfield, a Capuchin friar. He returned
to England with a companion in 1589. The two were arrested as
priests and imprisoned in the Tower of London, from which Canfield
was later transferred to Wisbeck Castle. In 1592, he was released
by Queen Elizabeth I, at the request of Henry IV of France, and
returned to the continent to become Master of Novices and Guardian
of the Convent at Rouen. The caption in Figure 9 reads,

The venerable Father F. Benedict, Englishman, Capuchin priest.
The Lord taught him discipline and wisdom, confirmed in him the
grace of his spirit, and filled his heart with understanding.
He died in the year of Our Lord 1611, in the 49th year of his
age, the 25th of his conversion, on the 21st day of November.

The banners read,

You are my servant, O Israel, in you I shall be glorified.

and,

I cannot be glorified except in your cross Lord Jesus.

The book on the table is open to display, "Life in His wishes."[13]
Interest in Benet Canfield, as he was known in France, was revived
by the publication of Grey Eminence by Aldous Huxley, in which Canfield's method of prayer, first
set out in The Rule of Perfection, is described.[23]
16 vi Sir Francis, bp. Little Canfield, 5 Sep. 1563;[21] mentioned in father's will 1577;[1] knighted 1604;[7] will 3 Oct. 1608;[5] d.s.p. 12 Oct. 1608;[19] will proved, Commissary Court of London (Essex, and Herts.),
12 Jan. 1608/9;[5] m. (as her 2nd husband[9]) Margaret Tyrell,[7][9] dau. and co-heir, with her 3 siblings, of Edmund Tyrell, Esq.,
of Beches, Rawreth, Essex,[9] and wid. of John Daniell of Acton, Suffolk Co.[19] After Sir Francis d. Margaret m. (3) Francis Jocelyn.[26] In 1587 Francis sold the manor of Albyns, which he had received
from his father, to Sir John Wood.[9] He purchased Thundersley, Apr. 1595, from Richard White and prob.
sold it in 1619 to Robert Wiseman.[9] He also received Great Canfield Park from his bro. William.[1] When Sir Francis d. he named his nephew, Sir William, No. 20
below, as his heir.[9] Sir Francis's arms are described as having a "bordure bezantée,"
meaning the border contained gold roundels, like gold coins.[11] (Editor's note ~ the border is red, a bordure Gules bezantée)
Margaret "in her own right enjoyed" the manor of Ramsden-Barrington
or Barnton, Ramsden Bellowes, Essex.[9] She, too, was a recusant (see Rooke Greene above). From 1600
to 1603, the last four years of the reign of Elizabeth I, she
was fined each year in amounts from £40 to £80. On 5 Apr. 1605,
she was presented by her parson to the Bishop of London "for that
she hath not come to her parrishe church by the space of theis
three yeres." Margaret's third husband was also a recusant, and
together they were fined in 1609 and 1610.[26]

Editor's Note ~ A close examination of the leopards' heads on
the brass discussed at the head of this page shows them to be
caboshed, not erased, the animals' beards and whiskers giving
a false impression of the torn edge of heraldic erasure.